A shock report claims that a decision to permanently downgrade or close the children’s ward at St John’s Hospital in Livingston has already been made - but that it will be kept secret until after the Holyrood elections next year because its contents will prove “politically contentious”.

The report, in Friday's Herald newspaper, claims the review into paediatric services at the hospital is “almost certain to recommend that a 24-hour children’s ward is closed with patients instead diverted to Edinburgh.”

It goes on to claim that “it will not be released to the public until June - one month after voters go to the polls in the Scottish Parliament elections on May 5.”

The report also suggests that a private NHS Lothian board session, where the contents of the report were due to be discussed, has been delayed until six days after the poll amid fears they would be leaked and that the health board are bound by pre-election rules and cannot release the “potentially politically contentious” report until after the election.

In July, the West Lothian Courier reported that a petition which attracted 6400 signatures calling on the children’s ward to be saved was presented to stakeholders after the ward closed for six weeks during the summer after a failed recruitment drive from NHS Lothian.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health was commissioned to complete the review of the services as NHS Lothian has consistently relied on locum staff, on triple pay, to plug staff shortages at the hospital’s paediatric ward.

Lothian MSP Neil Findlay commented: “This decision stinks. People in West Lothian should be able to make an informed choice at the next election and our local SNP representatives should be judged on their record, and that of the Scottish Government.”

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “We support whatever steps need to be taken to ensure a full and thorough review.”